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tv   The Lead With Jake Tapper  CNN  August 29, 2013 1:00pm-2:01pm PDT

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and people say i missed this, go to the brooke blog, go to cnn.com/brooke. i will be back at this time tomorrow. in the meantime, we go to washington. john berman is sitting in for jake tapper. "the lead" starts right now. the next few hours are crucial if the obama administration really plans to strike syria. i'm john berman and this is "the lead." the world lead. after complaining they're getting left in the dark, some lawmakers will soon hear what the administration has on syria. can the skeptics be won over? we'll talk to a lawmaker in the president's own party who is dead set against intervention. and would a strike on the syrian regime put us on the same side as al qaeda? would it trigger retaliation against u.s. ally israel? the complications of getting
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involved in another middle east complex. and the sports lead. they were once gods of gridiron who say the nfl profited off the trauma to their brains. now the league is paying up but is it enough for the thousands of players who say they will never be the same again? i'm john berman filling in for jake tapper today. we begin with the world lead and breaking news. just what does the u.s. have on assad? was he personally behind a chemical attack? two hours from now senior officials in the obama administration will brief congressional leaders on the situation in syria. the administration has repeatedly claimed that it is certain that the regime of president bashar al assad used chemical weapons on its on people. again, congressional leaders get that information in two hours, but our pentagon correspondent barbara starr has been working her sources and has something of a preview now. barbara, just what have you learned? >> let's unlock that
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intelligence dossier just a little bit here. first up, what we now know is that the u.s. has intercepts after the attack of syrian generals talking amongst themselves about the use of chemicals in this attack that happened last week. that's a very strong piece of evidence that underscores the administration's conclusion that the regime was behind it. but was bashar al assad's hand really on the button? did he give the order? that is less clear we are told. officials won't say whether assad had his finger on the button. they say if they talked about that, it would give up too much of the classified intelligence. but congressman mike rogers, republican chairman of the house intelligence committee in an upcoming interview in "the situation room" with wolf blitzer tells wolf that at least the sense of it is assad may have given his generals permission to use chemical weapons in a broad sense and this was the case in which they
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decided to use them. so you begin to see the shape taking place of what may have happened here. >> key information. thank you so much, barbara starr, at the pentagon. we appreciate it. >> as we mentioned, two hours from now, some congressional members will pick up their phones and finally get some answers from what they've been demanding on syria. the administration sounds so certain that chemical weapons were used yet the president told pbs last night that he is still pondering action. >> well, first of all, i have not made a decision. i have gotten options from our military, had extension discussions with the national security team. >> all we've heard from proxies is they did it, we know they did it and they should be punished for doing it now. three full days ago secretary of state john kerry gave the strong
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impression that a u.s. threat on syria was imminent. >> the indiscriminate slaughter of women and children, and islamabad innocent bystanders is a moral obscenity. >> you could practically hear the drum beat under the secretary of state's words. russia called a meeting, which is debating a resolution whether to allow military action on syria. russia also now sending two warships to the eastern mediterranean. that's according to reuters. u.n. secretary-general pleaded for time to finish their investigation in syria.
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by the way, they're not leaving until saturday. great britain is also pumping the brakes on joining the strike. prime cameron said the u.k. will not act until the u.n. gives its report and his parliament votes on it. here back in the u.s., more than a hundred members of the house, mostly republicans, but some democrats, too, sent the president a letter demanding he consult with congress before ordering any action. so one lawmaker who outright proposes intervention at all is congressman alan grayson, a democrat from florida, a member of the house foreign affairs committee. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> you were not invited to join this conference call in a few hours but is there anything the administration could say at this point to convince you to support an air strike? >> the administration would have to explain why this affects some vital american interest.
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i haven't heard any discussion of that at all. i think the only people who really want in to happen are the military industrial complex. i don't understand how this involves us, americans. the british had estimated the strike will cost americans billions of dollars, with a "b." at a time when the budgets are so tight, we're cutting veteran benefits and education and health care, why are we spending billions of dollars. i don't know where we got this odd notion that every time we see something bad happen in the world, we should bomb it. >> the president on pbs was talking about the u.s. interests here. i think we have some sound of exactly what the president said. let's listen. >> you are not only international norms and standards of decency, but you're also creating an area where u.s. national interests are affected and that needs to stop. >> in your opinion is the president wrong, that a chemical
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attack on the people of syria does not threaten u.s. interests? >> if that's what he's saying, yes, he's wrong. i don't see how this tragedy, it's a tragedy, affects u.s. national interests. and, by the way, the greatest norm, the highest norm in international law is that you don't attack another country unilaterally without the authorization of the united nations. that's the united nations' charter. it's a fundamental principle. we can't simply go in and bomb people whenever we feel like it, particularly when one man is air gating that to himself, that decision. >> by some reports at least 350 killed in what the administration says was a chemical weapons attack. is standing by and doing nothing really an option? >> frankly, you have overstated and the second -- there is all
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sorts of ambiguity regarding that particular point. the secretary said it was undeniable. it's been denied. the syrian government has said, a, they didn't do it, b, they would never do it, c, they never will do it and, d, they've invited u.n. inspectors to prove that. to say it's undeniable is false. even if we had undiebl evidence,s fact is it's simply not our responsibility. sometimes people need to learn the principle mind your own business. >> based on what you have seen in the media and anything else you might have seen in the congressional office, you were not convinced the syrian regime was behind the chemical attack in syria? >> first of all, it's not even clear it was a chemical attack. if it was a chemical attack, then the residue left on the clothing of victims would have poisoned other people. that hasn't happened. secondly, it could easily have been the rebels who did it or
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some disaffected parts of the syrian military. third, even if it was a chemical attack and it was the military doing it, there's no evidence it was a deliberate decision on the part of the leadership in syria. i don't like sit hearing sounding like i'm an apologist for a dictator but if you're going to say it's undeniable, that's the way it ought to be. >> but you were unsatisfied then, it is safe to say, with what you been given -- >> i think the administration is giving only one side of the story. >> and if the u.n. -- it's a hypothetical. if the u.n. inspectors do come back and we should learn by saturday what information they found, if they come back and say it was a chemical attack in this town and they think it was tied to the assad administration, would that satisfy you? >> no. we are not the world's
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policemen. that is not our responsibility. if the united nations decides to authorize men -- would that indicate whether that was a he command decision, no, that doesn't satisfy me at all. >> congressman, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> coming up on "the lead," they have promised retaliation but will iran and russia follow through ton their threat? the implications of u.s. military action in syria. plus, is former president george w. bush trying to rewrite history? why some are furious over a new hurricane katrina exhibit at the bush library. when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals: help the gulf recover and learn from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do.
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continuing with our world lead, the looming threat of u.s.
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action against syria. the ripples could reach across country and reach country years. there are so many variables here. how would syria respond? what about our frenemies, russia and china, who are syria's side and given the company the russians keep, can the u.s. afford to? tom foreman joins us. >> we could lob the muscles, that would be it, the message would be sent but there are many variables that could change the equation. the very first one you have to talk about is the reaction. >> it's clear syria will respond militarily and strongly diplomatically. i think what's most important is syria has three really strong
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allies in the form of russia, china and iran. they provide support to syria and have some quite some time. we would anticipate that support would continue and at the end of interest strike, syria may come out strong aer than it is befor the strike. >> they could bolster their support, more weapons, more support and they'd have the pretext to do so, saying we were just attacked by a super power, of course we can send you more things. >> without the implementation of a no-fly zone, that could occur. >> that would be nothing the united states would want. let's get rid of that and talk a little more about the country itself right now. we know all these insurgent groups are there right now. they are fractured, they're from many different places. what happens with the insurgent reaction if, in fact, an attack takes place? what are the possibilities? >> i think it's fair to assume assad is not going to capitulate, he's not going to give up. we can also assume is that al qaeda and hezbollah making up
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the insurgents in syria will increase in strength and gain momentum. the sad irony of this is the united states may contribute to the insurgent success in syria as a result of this strike. >> and not just insurgents that we might have something in common with but in truth what we're talk about here, if assad were to fall, even though that's not the goal right now, the u.s. could help put terrorist groups in charge of an entire nation. and then let's talk about the question of the unknowns. you go into any battle, you launch anything like this, and simply there are going to be things that go wrong, whether it's technological or in an intelligence sense. explain that. >> as a career intelligence officer, the sad thing is the intelligence can be wrong. assuming our coalition partners might strike a target that isn't
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what it was supposed to be. there might be women and children inside a facility that is now being taken out. and the down side of that would be horrible and the united states would then be accused of contributing to this humanitarian disaster. >> or there could be diplomats from china or from russia. we could hit them and widen the whole conflict. >> and we unfortunately have experience in that as well, belgrade, 1999, operation allied force. >> you said earlier when it comes to matters like this, you do get to start them -- >> you don't get to finish them. the on button belongs to you when you begin. you transfer possession of the off button to your opponent once you begin this fight. >> because that's where all the unknowns come kicking in, john. that's one of the calculations that has to be made as the hours tick by. >> thank you so much for joining us. appreciate that report. >> coming up, as firefighters
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continue to battle the flames, photographers are capturing some breathtaking images of that massive wildfire in yosemite national park. the rim fire like you've never seen it before. >> and they've been smoking weed legally for weeks. not pot smokers out west have another reason to celebrate. wish i saw mine more often, but they live so far away. i've been thinking about moving in with my daughter and her family. it's been pretty tough since jack passed away. it's a good thing you had life insurance through the colonial penn program. you're right. it was affordable, and we were guaranteed acceptance. guaranteed acceptance? it means you can't be turned down because of your health. you don't have to take a physical or answer any health questions. they don't care about your aches and pains. well, how do you know? did you speak to alex trebek? because i have a policy myself. it costs just $9.95 a month per unit.
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welcome back to "the lead," everyone. the national lead. the feds announced they will not go after states for legalizing marijuana.
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that means federal laws banning pot smoking will not supersede the state laws that make it okay to smoke pot out there. the justice department can still step in down the line if states fail to follow certain federal guidelines like keeping weed out of the hands of minors. >> as firefighters make head way to contain the ferocious fire in yosemite national park, we have time lapsed video released there week that show different angles of the rim fire which has scorched more than 192,000 acres of land. look at that. firefighters say it is now 30% contained and they expect to gain more ground in the coming weeks. stunning images. it was eight years ago today a monster named katrina unleashed fury on new orleans and people of the gulf coast. some are using the anniversary to commemorate lives changed and
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lost. and others say the george w. bush glosses over the administration's failed role in the response to katrina. groups are pushing for changes to the exhibit, which they say present as watered version of the response. the federal government took days to send in rescue crews. we reached out to the bush library for comment and we received a statement which reads in part "the area of bush museum exhibit dedicated to hurricane katrina is located within a section pertaining to crisis management. in addition, hurricane katrina is one of the four scenarios visitors can choose in the museum's decision-point theaters. as with the other exhibit elements, criticism of the federal and state responses is
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acknowledged. >> an update on a story we told you about earlier this month regarding the sex scandal that brought down a former cia director, dave petraeus. jill kelly filed a lawsuit against the obama administration for leaks that she says ruined her husband's and her reputation. now a u.s. district court has granted the administration a 20-day extension to respond to the suit. last year the kellys reached out to the fbi to complain about harassing e-mails. we now know those came from paula broadwell, the woman having an affair with general petraeus. the obama administration now has until september 24th to respond. the kellys' attorney said in a letter to attorney general eric holder, quote, government
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officials investigating a high level sex scandal engaged in willful and intentional violations of confidentiality and privacy requirements with the effect to divert public folks and diffuse political pressure. the obama administration has declined to comment given the pending litigation. coming up next on "the lead," terrorists waiting in the wings. could al qaeda benefit from a u.s. strike on syria? plus does the original boy band have a new album in the works? how some on line soothes -- sleuths reveal hints of a new beatles record? oral-b pro-health toothbrushes with crisscross technology remove up to 90% of plaque in hard to reach areas. feel the difference.
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welcome back to "the lead." coming back to our world lead, the crisis in syria spawned a global game of chess with diplomatic gymnastics and
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potentially deadly consequentials. from london, to moscow, to paris, tehran and jerusalem and beyond. one of the people on the president's speed dial, british prime minister david cameron. he spent his day in parliament there trying to ease the political anxiety over intervention in syria. >> the question before the house today is how to respond to one of the most abhorrent uses of chemical weapons in a century. i am deeply mindful of the lessons of previous conflicts and in particular the deep concerns in the country caused by what went wrong with the iraq conflict in 2003, but this is not like iraq. what we are seeing in syria is fundamentally different. >> he had a tough day, faced a lot of grilling. it is not just president obama fighting concerns from home. so the question is what is the
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political and military landscape world wide? bobby ghosh is the internegotiatiinte editor for "time" magazine. bobby, break it down for me. when we're talking about the world, what are sides and especially that britain seems to be going a little bit wobbly, to quote a foreign minister. >> we know who is completely opposed to action, the russians, the iranians and chinese. that part we're particularly clear on. as the president tries to pull together a coalition of the willing, that's a little more complicated. as you mentioned, in britain the government seems ready to go, the opposition not so much. the french government seems ready to go, we believe that the turks and the uae and saudi
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arabia are also willing it go, but we haven't quite heard from them. the arab league, which signed off on the libyan operation, for instance, a couple of years ago is not so clear at this point. they would like something to be done about bashar al assad, they are not his friends, they have kicked him out of the league, but at the same time they're not sure that a military operation against him is the way to go. this is a particularly difficult challenge for the president, much more difficult, for instance, than two years ago when there was a coalition of the willing that went against libya. >> so that's the landscape around the world. another place that's interesting to look is inside syria. peter, you've covered al news ra, the single most effective fighting force inside syria fighting against the government. if they're not an al qaeda affiliate, they're at least al qaeda sympathizers right now. how will they try to capitalize
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on a u.s. air strike if it does come? >> their goal is to overthrow assad and install a taliban regime in syria. they actually identified themselves as part of collidia they've been -- al qaeda, we might as well call them al qaeda. so the united states is in an interesting position. they don't want al qaeda to take over the country. on the other hand, they do want to pun, assad to some degree. so calibrating the strike so it doesn't actually overthrow his regime tomorrow but at the same time isn't a slap on the wrist is what they're trying to create. >> even the strange situation of -- >> yeah, the short answer is sometimes you get in these very difficult operations. >> you said very difficult situations there. the cover story again of "time"
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magazine notes one of the goals of any administration is in foreign policy avoid unwinnable situations. now, from the beginning president obama was a trying to differentiate his foreign policy from his predecessors. how might his differentiation contribute to the unwinnable situation that he faces right now? >> it's not so much as differentiation that's led to the situation. at the beginning when he first became president, he reached out to the world, as he said, with an open hand hoping that the world in return, particularly in some of these more difficult countries, that there would not be a clenched fist against him. unfortunately, the people with whom he was communicating that message don't believe in the power of words, they believe in the power of action and they have no come pungs of killing their own people in large numbers, as we are seeing in syria. butt the trap the president set almost for is one, bashar al assad has to go and, two, there's a red line with chemical
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weapons. that politically meant a commitment that he painted himself into a corn corn and now we find out if he doesn't respond, assad has not gone, he still remains, he's killed over 100,000 of his people and he's used chemical weapons, it would appear, in a fairly large quantity most recently. so now the president finds himself in this position. it's not so much the difference between him and george bush that's led to this, it's the, if you like, impoliticimpolitic us language. >> critics are saying one of the problems the obama administration is using this week is they're using a whole lot of language and talking too much. admiral william fallon says i have no earthly idea why they're talking so much. he's talking about the white house now. it's not leaking out, it's coming out a hose. they've been talking for four days about an air strike.
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>> we also live in an open society and the british what v to go to parliament to actually vote on military action. we in the united states are supposed to consult with congress before we take military action. that's the price of living in an open society. >> peter bergen, bobby ghosh, thanks for joining us. appreciate it. >> coming up in our politics lead, will he or won't he, as president obama considers launching a military attack in syria, is he having trouble selling his plan? and just how much is enough? t man: 'oh i can't go tonight' woman: 'i can't.' hero : that's what expedia asked me. host: book the flight but you have to go right now. hero: (laughs) and i just go? this is for real right? this is for real? i always said one day i'd go to china,
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. welcome back to "the lead," everyone. if you're not sure what the president's position is on syria, there could be a reason. listen to what jay carney told reporters at tuesday's white house briefing. >> the credibility of the assad regime here is obviously close to zero. it is our firm conviction that syria's future cannot include assad in power. >> sounds like assad must go, right? well, not so fast, my friends. carney just minutes earlier said this: >> i want to make clear that the options that we are considering are not about regime change. >> joining us to talk about the administration's messaging challenges, former adviser to mitt romney's campaign kevin maddon, former white house communications director anita
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dunn and cnn senior analyst david gergen, who has been to syria with two different administrations. thanks for being here. how would you grade the president's selling of his administration's plan in syria right now? house of representatives's he doing? >> it's totally incomplete at the moment. you have to give him a c minus at the moment. the question is how well he can sell it in that speech -- >> has there been too long, though? secretary kerry spoke on monday, vice president biden spoke on tuesday but no real, solid, firm words from the president. >> i think it would have been better had he been taking the lead from the start. you even have to ask should he have drawn the red line way back when. would he have been doing this if
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he had not drawn that red line in an off-handed comment? >> anita, this shows the president as "the unhappy warrior," saying he's not pleased with the decisions he has to make right now. is he being dragged into something he doesn't want to deal with? >> i don't think there's any president who would be happy faced with the idea to use military force. it's not happy time. and it's one that this president, as is the case with presidents before him, takes very seriously. that was the case with the tough decision he made in 2009. it's been the case with every time he's had to use military force. but this is a president who approaches these issues deliberately with a steady approach to these things that are thoughtful and he wants to look at all options and is not going to rush into this evenings. that's the approach he's had
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throughout his term. that's the approach you've seen here. there's no reason to rush but there is every reason in the world to look at how we exercise our obligations as a world leader. >> is being thoughtful in opposition to being decisive, though? >> okay, so, john, thoughtful means looking at everything thoughtful, means looking at the options and thinking them through before you act. i think we've seen reckless in the past. i think thoughtful as an approach to a region that is extraordinarily volatile, a region that's complex, issues that are complex. this isn't just about syria. you've been talking about this, everyone's talked about this. it's about a critically important region that's very volatile, that's very complicated, very complex. i think that you would want the president to think this through and, you know, talk to world leaders, meet with his team, look at all the options before moving. >> kevin, where are the republicans here?
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john mccain and lindsay graham have been calling for action for years, who really aren't jumping to the president's side and defending the policies or actions they're thinking of taking now. >> i think folks on capitol hill have been very reluctant and careful about saying what the president should or should not do. it's important the president speak for the country when it comes to dictating foreign policy. the problem here for the president, particularly from a communication standpoint is the lack clarity and lack of confidence. we learn on campaigns and we learn in all different sectors that every organization is essentially a reflection of its principal. if you look at what the white house -- there is a lack of clarity about what they're saying about the options are on the table. i think that's hard when he trying to sell that on capitol hill and even harder when he's trying to sell this policy to
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the american public. >> let me come back to what anita said, we should be thankful to have a president who is deliberative, who is careful. the danger is the more reluctant and deliberate you are, the danger is you can start looking weak and your own opponent will start taking advantage of you. we're being tested by assad now. the iranians are watching us very closely, if he doesn't respond more decisively, he's got a setback with iran. this doesn't seem to be gelling as an endeavor, as an initiative by a group of nations. >> neither demically nor internationalally. >> the vote in britain may not take place until tuesday. it might even go the wrong way. the president is supposed to get on a plane tuesday night and go to europe and meet his son. is he really going to take action. does he have to wait for another
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week? >> how uncomfortable will he be? >> they probably have had warm erp ones. >> the understood statement of the century. >> great to you have here. really appreciate it, guys. >> coming up next, in the sports lead, the nfl is ready to pay. does a settlement mean the league is acknowledging a link between football and head injuries? and the internet normally ruins everything. but find out internet discovery have fans of one fab foursome excited. [ tires screech ] [ beeping ] ♪ [ male announcer ] we don't just certify our pre-owned vehicles. we inspect, analyze and recondition each one, until it's nothing short of a genuine certified pre-owned... mercedes-benz for the next new owner. ♪
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welcome back to "the lead." in our sports lead, they clashed every sunday in front of packed stadiums, screaming fans and billionaire owners, many before the nfl began to experiment with new rules and modern ways to protect their ways. today the nfl reached a settlement over concussion lawsuits. the nfl will pay $765 million for compensation exams and a medical research program for retired players and their families, plus they will pay litigation fees as well. the judge has requested no comment beyond what is in the written documents since the settlement has not been approved. $765 million sounds like a lot of money until you look at this chart. $9.5 billion, that's how much
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the nfl brought in just in 2012. that's more than nascar, the nba and america's pastime, baseball. the question is who really won in this settlement and does it mean anything when it comes to the impact of concussions in football? i want to bring in a man that any football fan knows very, very well. peter king, senior writer for "sports illustrated" and editor of the mmqb.com. thanks for joining us. really appreciate it. >> sure. >> first of all, help us understand this settlement. for a couple years now people have been saying the nfl faced an existential problem, concussions could literally end the game. so how big a deal is this for pro football? >> well, this was the storm cloud that was over every decision the nfl made, it was over every season the last few seasons because everyone knew that this -- there was going to come a day of reckoning. and the reason why this is such a big win for the national football league in my opinion is that even though, including the
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attorneys fees, it's going to cost every nfl team, every nfl owner about $30 million, this is $30 million payable over a 20-year period the owners are going to have to pay basically about $12 million over the first three years per team to fund this concussion fund settlement. but beyond that, they're going to have a long period of time to basically stretch out the payments that they're going to owe and they're almost certainly going to be able to eliminate any future lawsuit from former players about head injuries. so i think it's a very big win for the nfl. >> why the players, then, make the deal? there are probably some pretty sad reasons, i imagine. >> clearly what happened, john, is that guys like -- i mean, kevin turner, a former nfl fullback, who now has als, he
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was very strident this week when people said this lawsuit could stretch on for six, eight, ten years. he said, look, i don't have ten years. i'm probably not going to make it that long. i need money now. i need funding now. the average player in that lawsuit might only get $100,000 to $200,000, but for the average player, that's going to help him pay the medical bills that he desperately needs that money for. >> it is so sad. they need the money now because they don't know if they'll be alive long enough if they had dragged the lawsuit out for longer. does the nfl have to acknowledge in any way what they knew about the link between concussions and brain injuries? that was one of the big issues here, that the nfl would have to open up their books and show what they knew. but now what happens? >> not only does the nfl not have to acknowledge involved in the whole head trauma issue, in
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the concussion issue, but the nfl also doesn't have to go through what i believe would have been a very painful discovery process, where team doctors would have got i don't know -- gotten on the stand, who maybe were doctors 15 years ago on the sidelines and got pressured by a head coach to send guys back into games. so i think a lot of people the early analysis is that, yeah, the players get the money now, they're going to be able to get the money now, but had they been able to be patient and taken the money maybe six, eight, ten years down the road, they could have done a lot better in this process. i got to tell you, john, nobody can litigate like the national football league. they have a very long record of being able to stretch cases out. i think clearly that's one of the things that really made a lot of the players in this lawsuit and the attorneys fear a long case. >> and just to be clear, you think that this means the
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players now and recently retired players, other players not part of the 4,500, they probably won't be able to sue later on? >> they won't be able to sue later on but the good thing is that any former nfl player, there's about 18,000, or 19,000 former nfl players who are currently alive. any of those players can undergo baseline testing at no cost of their brain. and if they have abnormal brain activity in in any way they, they will be able to appeal to the people who are going to run this fund to be able to-to-get some money out of this for treatment for their head injury. >> the important thing is that players who need treatment can get the treatment and the important thing is that these injuries and the nfl and really society does what they can to reduce the injuries. peter king, thank you for coming in. >> my pleasure. >> the kids in "the breakfast
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club" were in detention longer. and the nfl is punishing this player for 30 whole minutes. if statement about the suspension, it said there was no evidence that manziel was paid for signing autographs, which would be against ncaa regulatio regulations, but they put him on the bench just in case someone somewhere sold something with his name on it. we sure hope he can shake off all the rust for missing that 30 minutes against rice. >> coming up next in "the buried lead", it's the birds and the bees on a cosmic level. details of a new study that says we're all aliens. really. next. [ male announcer ] if you think all toothbrushes are the same, then you'll need to try an oral-b toothbrush. oral-b pro-health toothbrushes have advanced features like crisscross bristles. made to fit the angles of your teeth better than straight bristles,
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welcome back to "the lead," everyone. now the buried lead. as weird as it sounds, there a ton of people who are actually happy with the irs today. that's because the irs and treasury department agreed to give married same-sex couples the same federal tax benefits as straight couples. same-sex couples can now file jointly and they're eligible for federal benefits in states that
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do not recognize same-sex marriage. that means the federal government will recognize marriages in states that do not recognize same-sex marriages. that th will apply to all federal taxes, includes estate taxes and retirement accounts as well. >> after years of speculations surrounding the fab four, the secret is finally out. it looks like the beatles have a new record coming out this year. volume i came out 20 years ago and featured never released recordings of the group. universal records currently owns the rights of the beatles catalogue. and there are aliens among us. in fact, you might be one of them. a new study says that there's evidence that life originated on mars and was brought to this planet aboard a meteorite. these are the findings from a
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chemist from the west heimer institute in florida who says 3 billion years ago march was a much more livable place than earth. it had water and the building blocks of life that made its way here. that's it for "the lead." i now turn you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." happening now circu, is thet push to punish syria going food? i'll speak with mike rogers, who says it's very clear the syrian regime carried out last week's horrific chemical attack. >> and pot smokers can rel